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The Fish That Saved George Washington's Army byTimothy Ballard, adapted from "The Washington Hypothesis" | Jul. 01, 2016 Makes You Think Comments Miracles involving fish didn't just happen in Biblical times. In fact, one such miracle occurred during the Revolutionary War as well. While in Valley Forge, American soldiers suffered greatly, many even died, for lack of food. Congress heard their pleas but was helpless to provide. Washington warned Congress that if food did not arrive soon, his army faced three choices: “Starve—dissolve—or disperse.” With no mortal on earth able to come to their aid, prayer was the only option. Perhaps the soldiers remembered that the Lord had once before provided His hungry disciples with fish in a miraculous way. It was about to happen again. Suddenly, in the midst of the winter famine, there was an unexpected warming of the weather, too early to accredit to springtime. The “false spring” tricked the shad fish into beginning their run up the Delaware River early. Thousands of shad—some described them as “prodigious in number,” others said they came in “Biblical proportions”—swam up the Delaware. The overabundance caused thousands more to make a turn up smaller streams and rivers, seeking any space to spawn. One of those rivers was the Schuylkill. At a certain bend in that river, the water rose only knee-deep—perfect for catching fish. And that very bend in the Schuylkill just happened to run right by Washington’s camp at Valley Forge. The famine ended instantly, as thousands upon thousands of pounds of fish were caught and eaten. Hundreds of barrels were filled and salted down for future consumption. Even today, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service gives credence to the claim that the shad were responsible for “saving George Washington’s troops from starvation as they camped along the Schuylkill River at Valley Forge.” Shortly after the miracle of the fish, Washington wrote the following from Valley Forge: “Providence has a just claim to my humble and grateful thanks for its protection and direction of me through the many difficult and intricate scenes which this contest has produced, and for its constant interposition in our behalf when the clouds were heaviest and seemed ready to burst upon us. . . . Since our prospects have miraculously brightened, shall I attempt the description of the condition of the army, or even bear it in remembrance, further than as a memento of what is due to the great Author of all, the care and good that have been extended in relieving us in difficulties and distresses?”
The Fish That Saved George Washington's Army byTimothy Ballard, adapted from "The Washington Hypothesis" | Jul. 01, 2016 Makes You Think Comments Miracles involving fish didn't just happen in Biblical times. In fact, one such miracle occurred during the Revolutionary War as well. While in Valley Forge, American soldiers suffered greatly, many even died, for lack of food. Congress heard their pleas but was helpless to provide. Washington warned Congress that if food did not arrive soon, his army faced three choices: “Starve—dissolve—or disperse.” With no mortal on earth able to come to their aid, prayer was the only option. Perhaps the soldiers remembered that the Lord had once before provided His hungry disciples with fish in a miraculous way. It was about to happen again. Suddenly, in the midst of the winter famine, there was an unexpected warming of the weather, too early to accredit to springtime. The “false spring” tricked the shad fish into beginning their run up the Delaware River early. Thousands of shad—some described them as “prodigious in number,” others said they came in “Biblical proportions”—swam up the Delaware. The overabundance caused thousands more to make a turn up smaller streams and rivers, seeking any space to spawn. One of those rivers was the Schuylkill. At a certain bend in that river, the water rose only knee-deep—perfect for catching fish. And that very bend in the Schuylkill just happened to run right by Washington’s camp at Valley Forge. The famine ended instantly, as thousands upon thousands of pounds of fish were caught and eaten. Hundreds of barrels were filled and salted down for future consumption. Even today, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service gives credence to the claim that the shad were responsible for “saving George Washington’s troops from starvation as they camped along the Schuylkill River at Valley Forge.” Shortly after the miracle of the fish, Washington wrote the following from Valley Forge: “Providence has a just claim to my humble and grateful thanks for its protection and direction of me through the many difficult and intricate scenes which this contest has produced, and for its constant interposition in our behalf when the clouds were heaviest and seemed ready to burst upon us. . . . Since our prospects have miraculously brightened, shall I attempt the description of the condition of the army, or even bear it in remembrance, further than as a memento of what is due to the great Author of all, the care and good that have been extended in relieving us in difficulties and distresses?”